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| Before Duke Nukem, there was... Duke Nukum! |
All through my life, I've been oriented towards playing video games on my consoles. While I’ve been quite content and I learned what I know from those, I’ve never found myself able to play them on a computer. My family did have one that could play SOME games, but couldn’t play anything as graphically demanding as a Telltale game.
However, if you consider that video game consoles are merely computers with limited capabilities, then the PC is one of the oldest and versatile consoles that games are still being made for today. Buying a computer based on specifications, along with the possibility to upgrade in the future, gave them that adaptable advantage over c onsoles.
However, this advantage comes with a high maintenance factor. Upgrading or repairing parts- like graphics cards or cooling fans- can come with high price tags. Even buying a high performance gaming computer can be twice, maybe THRICE as much as a new Xbox Series or PlayStation 5 console. And while PCs can play games as far back as the late 80s, being able to play those games- especially those around the late 90s- is a technological equivalent of going to war. Running compatibility modes, installing fan made patches or source ports, locking frame rates, Google searches- even after all that, your game might still not perform the way it should have. On the other extreme, if the computer has underpowered specs, it’d have to set the graphics at its lowest possible to run the game on a decent performance. AT BEST.
Eventually I did pony up for a gaming laptop, getting curious about the games that never came out on consoles or not without sacrifices. For some of the older PC games on my list, there were community made source ports or patches that made them playable on modern computers. But then there are games like Cannon Fodder or Star Wars: Dark Forces (I and II), that were only optimized for computers of their time and rarely have that kind of support. Trying to start up any of them would lead to a wide assortment of technical difficulties. Terrible framerates, graphical glitches, or hard crashes that would boot me back to the desktop, unable to display the game AT ALL.
This would lead to me going back and forth between looking up potential fixes online and then following them in the hopes that the game will run properly. This process would drive me nuts and usually end with me giving up after a while. Even if some of those games DID have fixes, it can still be a pain to get working.
For instance, I installed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone on my laptop. I had recently finished reading the book and remembered playing the PC game as a kid. Despite finding a community patch, it still ran awfully and sometimes wouldn't boot up. Then another game like Max Payne would play smoothly without a hitch… but then the sound stops working during cutscenes. I found a patch to fix it, though getting it installed properly was a royal Payne in the butt. Payne to the Max!
It’s because of crap like this- the high prices, the constant maintenance, and the poor optimization of older games and having to fight to get them working- I've been against using PCs for gaming for so long. Granted with my consoles, their abilities are limited to the tech inside the box, at least there’d be no problems running the damn thing (unless the game launched buggy as hell, then that’s poor optimization/sloppy development)! Though any support for backwards compatibility with older titles, if offered at all, is extremely limited. Say there’s a game you’ve wanted to play from an older console generation, but can’t play it on that newer console. Either have that older console plugged in already or it’s time to go into the closet or garage or storage locker to find it, and THAT can be just as much of a headache!
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| Now where did I put that PlayStation 2? |
I know for a good portion of this post I've been bagging on PC gaming and how frustrating it has been at times. But in the mix between consoles and computers, both have their advantages and their limits. Consoles can play games just fine by the tech of their time, but not always play from the past. PCs can play a wide catalog of games new and old but can be a pain to keep up with and to play older games on. In the end, I don’t hate PC gaming. When the games work well, I can have a grand time, and there’ll be games on there I would love to sink my teeth into once I have it.
...and maybe a better place to play them too.
Special Editor: Dan Cordell
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There is somewhat of a happy ending here. After a couple of Google searches, I did find a way to run DOSBOX games with little to no trouble. So to end this post, I’ll share how to do this for anyone wanting to play their own DOS games and not want to rip their hair out.
For this demonstration, we’re going to use the original Duke Nukum game (No, I did not spell that wrong). Go into the computer’s file manager, and track down the game’s folder. Open it.
Inside, scroll down until you find a configuration file (CONF), probably under the game’s name in undercase. Open it with a word processor, in my case I would recommend Notepad, and this window should appear.
Here, we can see the settings the game will launch in when it boots up originally. Scrolling down shows more extensive options (renderers, midi, joystick controls, etc), all of which can be reoptimized as to how you want the game to start up. Some, like this one, will even offer notes as a small guide to assist in making these customized options.
For now though, the only two changes we’ll be making will be under “fullresolution” and “output”. Opening the file, these will be set as:
fullresolution=original
output=surface
These settings as they were will not launch the game properly on my machine. For “fullresolution”, go into the computer’s settings and look under your display options.
Knowing your computer’s resolution (my example, 1900x1080), head back into the CONF file and replace “original” with your computer’s resolution.
Doing everything correctly, the game will display in… a veeeerrrrry small window.
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| Big platformer... itty bitty window |
Which brings us to output. There are five different options; surface, overlay, opengl, openglnb, and ddraw. Most of the DOS games I have will originally have it under surface. Since I have no idea what the other three are, I used opengl to replace “surface” for output (because I remembered that being thrown around in an old Angry Birds commercial for Google Chrome).
After adjusting these options, save the newly altered file and start the game up. It should launch smooth as silk and in proper fullscreen... or at least, as full as it can be without stretching the game out.
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Admittedly, I’m not the best when it comes to computers, so do consider this a beginner’s guide to get a good portion of your DOSBOX games to run. Not all games will have files like this. Games like Dark Forces might only have four command lines in its .CONF file. Other games might run without making these changes and others might not STILL after making them. For any advanced configurations, despite the headaches this causes, please consult your local Google searches to find any forums or articles that can help enhance your DOSBOX experience.
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